Joe Colello, a former official with the Oregon Department of Energy, pleaded guilty this week to receiving bribes in connection with the sale of state energy tax credits. Here is what he admitted:

1. Colello used to manage tax credit sales for the energy department. He took bribes 52 times over a few years from a consultant named Martin Shain, according to prosecutors. "I'm dirty," Colello told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an emotional interview Sunday afternoon. "I made mistakes."

2. The checks ranged up to $14,130, in October 2012, but most over the next several years were for just under $5,000. He said they arrived by FedEx. "At some point, the money just started showing up," Colello said.

3. The total was nearly $300,000: $291,017. Shain, accused in the charges of making the payments, is already facing forgery charges in relation to the tax credit program.

4. According to the plea offer, Colello will serve prison time and have to pay restitution and the costs of his prosecution. "Now I'm not going to be able to watch my kids grow up," he told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

5. The charges in state court were racketeering, receiving bribes, aggravated theft, tax evasion and official misconduct charges. He pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon in Marion County Circuit Court.

Read more about the unusual case.

There is likely more to come. The plea offer says he will serve his time concurrent "to any incarceration time ordered in the related Federal case." No further explanation is included as to any federal charges.

But Bob Simonton, a key witness in the separate Shain forgery case, provides a tantalizing clue.

Simonton, who formerly worked for the Oregon University System and helped coordinate the solar project involving Shain, has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

"I'm working with the Department of Justice and the FBI on it, so I can't comment," Simonton said Tuesday night.